1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to archery bow presses for the maintenance of archery bows, and more particularly, to an archery bow press for the maintenance of various types of bows of varying size.
2. Description of Related Art
Archery bow presses are used in the maintenance of archery bows, and in particular, are necessary for the maintenance of compound bows, where force is required to compress the bow in order to remove the bow string(s) and perform other repair and maintenance operations.
Typical bow presses contract a bow by applying a force to the ends of the bow limbs or by applying force to the handle of the bow to force the bow limbs against a set of rollers. Some bows, and compound bows in particular, have split limbs or split limb ends and various features located at the limb ends that can interfere with the press at the point of force application. This makes it difficult to uniformly apply a force to the split limbs or split limb ends of the bow in such a way that the bow does not twist in the press or become damaged due to concentration of force at one point. The limb end features however are not uniform among the bows, and may include idler wheels, cams and other structural differences. These differences can vary from model to model and also among bows of different manufacturers. Some bow presses which contract a bow by applying force to the split limb ends can be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,597,094 and 7,644,708 to Pittman.
However, applying force to split limbs or split limb ends may be problematic in that as force is applied to the limbs or limb ends, the limb ends tend to ride up on the bow press and may potentially break free of the bow press under load, thereby damaging the bow and potentially injuring the operator. In addition the force being applied to the split limbs or split limb ends is often a frictional force which may fail to properly secure the bow in place. This is especially the case for bows with a larger curvature since as force is applied to the limb ends, the limb ends become substantially vertically oriented, thereby increasing the risk that the bow will break free.